Toshiba Brave Lupus replaces head coach Todd Blackadder
- Mark Pickering
- Jul 23
- 2 min read
Toshiba Brave Lupus has replaced their two-time League One-winning head coach Todd Blackadder, RugbyJP.com can exclusively reveal.
Ex-All Blacks captain Blackadder, 54, led the club to consecutive league titles in 2024 and 2025 before a quarter-final exit in this year’s play-offs after an injury-plagued campaign.
The former Crusaders head coach’s last public appearance was during an end-of-season press conference on 11 June.
Toshiba’s general manager Masahiro Kunda will officially announce Blackadder’s departure this morning during a press conference and reveal the club’s new coaching and operational structure.
UPDATE: Toshiba forwards coach Joshua Syms was unveiled as the surprise replacement for Blackadder, who after seven years in charge, has been handed a 'High Performance Director and Advisor' role which is customary move in Japan and is typically an honorary role rather than a day-to-day position.
The club has already moved to replace All Blacks stars Richie Mo’unga and Shannon Frizell as well as Fiji international Seta Tamanivalu with the arrival of Crusaders captain David Havili, Scottish international Jack Dempsey and Springboks ace Aphelele Fassi announced on 1 July.
Canterbury native Blackadder joined Toshiba in 2019 and was the second longest-serving head coach in the country’s top-flight after Kubota Spears’ Frans Ludeke.
The former Bath Director of Rugby will be remembered for leading the club to title glory in 2024-25 and 2025-26, becoming the first club to win consecutive championships in the League One era.
Toshiba’s ‘three-peat’ bid last season came undone in the play-offs after a testing season which saw the Fuchu-based side endure a seven-game losing-streak earlier this year.
Japan captain Warner Dearns spent the campaign on a New Zealand sabbatical playing a starring role for Super Rugby winners the Hurricanes while former Brave Blossoms co-captain Mamoru Harada was on loan at Moana Pasifika.
Tonga-born Frizell suffered multiple hand injuries and was limited to two appearances while talismanic club captain Michael Leitch missed the first six rounds of the season due to injury.
After a sixth-place league finish, the club’s season ended with a 26-3 defeat to Ludeke’s eventual runners-up Kubota in May.
More to follow
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